Tikopia of Melanesia free essay sample

Tikopia of Melanesia Barbara Pritchard Anthropology 101 Instructor Tawny Townsend June 27, 2011 Tikopia of Melanesia Tikopia of Melanesia has been through many different changes in their society. Agriculture also known as agricultural states is their primary mode of subsistence; you may also call them emerging agriculturalists. The island of Tikopia is lead by chiefs which are their traditional ritual leaders. â€Å"Chiefs are the economic focus in the Tikopian society†, (Nowak Laird, 2010).Another name for Tikopians village or community would be chiefdom. In this paper you will read about how, Tikopia of Melanesia is different in their subsistence practices, social change, political organizations, and beliefs and values. Subsistence Practices Tikopia practices a precise method of agriculture. Tikopians search for clear forests and dried swamps, which provide them with irrigated land, access to markets, and trade routes. The empty land allows control over resources. Technology also plays a part in their subsistence practices. Technology may include intensive agriculture (for example, irrigation, terraces, and flood control) and trade infrastructure such as ships, ports, bridges, and roads. In addition, there may be ownership of technology, allowing for control over production and distribution†, (Nowak Laird, 2010, p. 146). Men mainly do the hard work, cleaning forests, building fences, and planting; the women do the gardening, take care of the children, and prepare food. The women and men both play major roles in their subsistence practices. They use balanced reciprocal exchange and redistribution to transport goods and services. Balanced reciprocal exchange is exchange with an agreement with a return of an equivalent item or an item with a greater value. â€Å"Redistribution is tribute, or the products of families’ or individuals’ labor, is collected in a central location and then sorted, counted, and either stored or given away to producers and non producers†, (Nowak Laird, 2010, p. 149). The men build canoes in order to transport their goods and services.While agriculture is the subsistence base for chiefdoms as well as agricultural states, â€Å"clan chiefs are the traditional political and ritual leaders of the â€Å"clan†; they hypothetically own all the land, are key figures in production and distribution, and major agents of social control because as a result of missionary activities, the Tikopians have become Christianized, and ritual advisors are no longer import,† (Firth 197 0). The way they survive their mode of subsistence, has an impact on their social change as well. Social Change The change occurred slowly, but the Christian missionaries transformed the local population throughout Melanesia to Christianity. Over the next thirty years, all of the chiefs in Tikopia and their follower’s had been converted to Christianity; which changed the Tikopians culture forever. This conversion leads to hostility between the Christians and the traditional communities. The conversion to Christianity has changed a lot of things in the Chiefdom communities.In Tahiti, for example, they have had to change the way they know to live in order to make it with a new religion. The change has made their cultural values decease. The coming of Christianity has also changed their beliefs. It took away their dance, music, temples, wood carvings, and more. Not everyone has been able to accept the coming of Christianity into their culture which causes conflict among the people. I am using the etic perspective because I am on the outside looking in. I will never know what exactly goes on.I only know what I read about. In order to know what really goes on, I would have to experience what they have experienced. I could use the emic perspective about how the changing from their original beliefs has affected their lives. I know that any major changes of any sort can be hard to adjust to, especially when you are used to doing things in a traditional or standard manor. Tikopia is considered a ranked society; which means, they are found in environments with many resources’. The chiefs in Tikopians society are known as the economic focus.The chiefs are the owners of the land, making sure that the commoner family groups have equal access to the land for cultivation. The distribution of land is reasonably divided by each family group chief. The land is divided into orchards for growing bananas, coconuts and yam gardens. The crops can only be access through shared agreement by the individual families. â€Å"Typically chiefs hold more land than commoners but the chiefs land is necessary in order for him to fulfill his ritual responsibilities,† (Nowak Laird, 2010). Political OrganizationsThe Chiefdoms have full time and permanent political positions to oversee the regions they govern. A chief is born into his position that is said to be reinforced by supernatural power. Being a chief is said to be sent from the gods; which, provides them with supernatural power of authority over their regions. A chief is â€Å"full time and permanent, outlasting the lifespan of the office holder,† (Nowak Laird, 2010, P. 14, Para. 1). Upon the death or retirement of a chief the office must be filled by his son or next in line for the position.The higher ranking chiefs have control over lesser ranking individuals of who controls a particular territory of a social unit. Although, lesser chiefs collect from those below them each small village has a leader or chief who is akin to and submissive to the head chief in the central community. â€Å"Chiefdoms can vary in their political complexity, some have only one level of political hierarchy; while others have two or even three tiers,† (Nowak Laird, 2010, P. 14, Para. 3). When a paramount chief dies in Tikopia an election is held among the lesser chiefs to replace him. Occasionally, Tikopia chiefs held total power in boundary over their people, particularly over their own clan members, though this power could be adapted by conventional methods of constraining a chief to respond to public opinion. Chiefs were and still are sacred and treated with great respect. Previously, chiefly families tended to form an intermarrying class, but nowadays unions between commoners and the children of chiefs are frequent. Beliefs and Values The original Tikopia religious system was oriented around rituals for various ancestors and gods.With the aim of obtaining such ends as favorable weather, crop productivity, success in fishing, and the curing of illness. Each chief has two sets of advisors, one for each ritual and spiritual affairs. For example, ancestors in genealogical rank-order may be among chiefdom’s supernatural beings, reflecting the social order. They believe that the material and spiritual world cannot be separated. Their religious views are repeated and based on â€Å"seasonal patterns of nature, and they believe that the natural order is impossible to tell apart from the moral and spiritual order,† (Nowak Laird, 2010, P. 1, Para. 1). Tikopia believe in spirit beings such as: ancestors, gods, and spirit powers that had took over human form. Tikopia community, led by their chiefs joined the church, thus drastically changing ceremonies and practitioners. Ceremonies being a major spirit being were worshipped in complex rites, with offerings of food and bark cloth. These ceremonies were performed in which canoes, crops, temples, and people were rededicated to gods and ancestors for protection and wealth. â€Å"Tikopia worked out an accommodation of Christianity that ultimately preserved many of their traditional practices.In some other Pacific Islands, Christian missionaries introduced the idea of competitive giving of money to the church and required members to wear Western-style clothing, practices that required the indigenous people not only to change their spiritual belief systems, but also required them to earn money and enter into nontraditional exchange relationships,† (Macdonald 113-7) Tikopians have become Christianized, and ritual advisors are no longer important. Although, the clans are hierarchically ranked, the chief of the highest ranked clan should be considered as first among equals, rather than as a true paramount chief.The original Tikopia religious system was oriented around rituals for various ancestors and gods, wit h the aim of obtaining such ends as favorable weather, crop productivity, success in fishing, and the curing of illness, and each chief has two sets of advisors, one for each ritual and spiritual affairs. Conclusion Even though, the clans were hierarchically ranked, the chief of the highest ranked clan should be considered as first among equals, rather than as a true paramount chief. Tikopia is lead by higher ranking chiefs, which has control over lesser ranking chiefs that control a particular territory.